What can you get for say ï¿½200,000

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What can you get for say ï¿½200,000
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tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 5:32 pm Post subject:
Aha, didn't think of it like that

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 5:45 pm Post subject:

Har de har

Thing is, you cut your coat, for want of a better expression. I grow a lot of things down here that I won't be able to grow when we move up there - grapes, tomatoes, peppers, melons, etc outdoors, not to mention my precious ornamentals.
It will be a very different way of life - we grow what can be grown in that locality - that is very important to me; leeks, potatoes, brassicas, kales, soft fruit, etc. Even a polytunnel may be out of the question, due to high winds.
We shall see, but I do like a challenge.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 5:46 pm Post subject:
I notice you say when not if, is it that definite? And how does your OH feel about it?

Tracey Smith

Joined: 31 Oct 2004
Posts: 37
Location: Rural

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 7:18 pm Post subject:

Wombat - The weather here is tends to be a little kinder than in some of the other regions. The Lot et Garonne has it's own micro-climate so I'm told and as you approach this area from the flatlands around Bordeaux, it goes all rolling hills and limestone cliffs. I would say compared to the south east of England where I used to live, it is definitely more extreme. Having said that, the heatwave last year hit all of Europe and I only have a few years to compare to anyway. The coldest we have had here was -17 but that was overnight and only for a few days. Last year it only went to -11 for a short spell. The hot bits have topped 45 deg, which was just unbearable - thank god for the stone houses that kept us cooler. We are about 3 1/2 hours from the Med and as you approach the Pyrenees you can see the landscape getting more baron - not my bag really. It's a very agricultural area here and we 'feel' the seasons well, enjoying the balance of sun and rain; it's said to be the most fertile part of France. Everything grew well this year, with the exception of runner beans oddly enough - but it was the same for my neighbour too. I hope that helps.

Jema - I think I have been happier about the wet and miserable times here, because I have been more relaxed about most other things. Downshifting certainly changes your perception.

Lowlander - sounds like a bargain - I hope it works out well. Dilapidated is dooable, when you have less stress and the time to cope with it all. Don't let it worry you. Embracing the more northerly seasons will be very different, but change is positive if you are moving for the greater good. All the best to you.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 8:47 pm Post subject:

Hi Tracey

Thanks for the info and I will have a good look round the sites you mention. Bugs & I stayed with here friends in the country near Toulouse in early summer. It was very nice and, despite not knowing much French, I felt more at home that here between South London and the M25.

Luckily Bugs speaks quite good French and I've done some renovation on our current house so France does seem like a good bet. We also don't mind the rain, which is good as we'll start looking in Brittany.

Elfy

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7
Location: Swindon, UK

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 04 9:04 pm Post subject: Re: What can you get for say ï¿½200,000

Elfy wrote:

ps) not playing silly b's with the Elfy tag, it is a test account trying to see if I can recreate login issues that have been reported.

Was wondering how i've got 3 posts already, would explain something.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 04 12:35 am Post subject:
Tahir - definitely a when, not an if

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45668
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 04 10:10 am Post subject:
Ooerr

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Thu Nov 04, 04 10:12 am Post subject:
Just as Tracey has mentioned getting a handle on the language in France. Jonnyboy, how did you find dialect/culture in Ulster? Easy or difficult to settle in? Just interested as that's where I am from, my wife is from South Wales but we are in East Anglia.

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Thu Nov 11, 04 11:22 pm Post subject:
Jonnyboy is not that hard to understand.

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 04 2:32 pm Post subject:

alison wrote:

Jonnyboy is not that hard to understand.

when we visit my folks in NI, my brothers,father and I can hold a conversation around the kitchen table and my wife can't understand a word of it. Some of it is down to dialect/ accent but sometimes it is cultural
ie politics or rural/urban divide.
The M4 corridor in South Wales can be a long way from Co. Tyrone and I'm not talking in terms of mileage.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 04 2:36 pm Post subject:
accents are an amazing thing, I recall being somewhere with people in south wales, where things were perfectly understandable, until this woman we were with started talking to her mother, and then quite literally I did not know whether they were talking Welsh or heavily accented English, it all turned to fat high piched gibberish jema

Joey

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 191

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 04 2:56 pm Post subject:
Would that be fast high pitched gibberish?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28233
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Fri Nov 12, 04 3:02 pm Post subject:

Joey wrote:

Would that be fast high pitched gibberish?

You didn't see them

jema

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 04 2:50 pm Post subject:

We paid just over ï¿½200K for our place in Ceredigion - four bedroom traditional slate-built farmhouse with barns, outbuildings and pigsties, plus just over an acre, with the other four and a half acres rented. Prices are rising by the week, though.
We found our place after looking for nearly two years, so it's worth persevering. The place does also need a heck of a lot of work which could seriously bump up the price if you don't fancy doing it yourself (ours has now been rewired, replumbed and is currently being replastered and having new ceilings and floors put in).
My advice is to do a quick recce to find an area you think you could live in (and afford), and then blitz the estate agents in a 30-mile radius. These days so many are online, which helps enormously. Try also the specialist online agencies like ruralscene and the smallholding centre. Be patient, and good luck!

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